Skippack man charged in connection with collision into utility pole

SKIPPACK — A 25-year-old Skippack man has been charged with multiple offenses in connection with an incident shortly after midnight on Dec. 28 in which the car he was allegedly driving crashed into a utility pole and burst into flames; he then fled from the scene and was later taken into custody by multiple law enforcement agencies following a brief manhunt.

Terrence Peirce Gadsby, who also goes by the name Terrence Claude Tadley, Jr., according to police, was arraigned Dec. 28 before District Judge Robert Sobeck of Whitpain on charges of driving under the influence, resisting arrest and loitering and prowling at night — all misdemeanors — as well as summary charges of reckless driving and accidents involving damage to unattended property.

Lower Salford Township police said that officers responding to a reported one-vehicle accident on the 500 block of Harleysville Pike found a Chevrolet Cruze engulfed in flames; the vehicle had struck a utility pole, breaking it and causing utility wires to fall onto the roadway, police said.

As an officer walked toward the burning vehicle to see if anyone was inside, according to police, a bystander shouted out that the driver of the car was running away from the scene, and pointed to a white male in a long-sleeved T-shirt.

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The officer gave chase on foot, commanding the man — later identified as Gadsby, who resides on the 2100 block of Fort Bevon Road — to stop, but Gadsby kept running and disappeared from sight as he ran through the backyards of residences along Harleysville Pike, police said.

As the Harleysville Fire Department extinguished the blaze, police set up a perimeter and called in a K-9 unit from the Montgomery Township Police Department, which started tracking the male and along the way found a pair of brown shoes near where the car struck the utility pole, police said.

Officers from the Franconia, Souderton and Towamencin police departments, as well as Pennsylvania State Police troopers, joined the hunt for Gadsby.

During the track, police said, they received a report of a suspicious person on the 300 block of Windsor Drive — about half a mile from the accident site — who was bleeding from his face, had bloodstains on his white T-shirt and was knocking on someone’s front door before running off behind the property.

Officers went to that location and continued the K-9 track, which led them to the rear of nearby Oak Ridge Elementary School, at which point a Towamencin officer spotted Gadsby in the school parking lot and he was detained, according to police.

Gadsby wasn’t wearing shoes and was bleeding from small lacerations on his face and head when he was located, police said.

A Pennsylvania State Police trooper said that in the midst of “spontaneous utterance,” Gadsby confessed to driving and crashing the vehicle. However, Gadsby — who reeked of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and was slurring his speech, police said — was uncooperative and repeatedly commented that officers should take off his handcuffs and fight a “fair one,” according to police.

Gadsby remained uncooperative with Harleysville Area EMS workers who responded to the scene to evaluate his injuries, police said.

The witness from the scene of the accident identified Gadsby as the driver of the crashed Chevrolet, police said.

The individual told police that he heard the collision, came outside and saw Gadsby exit the driver’s seat, and that he told Gadsby to lay down on the grass and wait for police to respond, which he did, but that he got up and ran away once police arrived.

Gadsby was placed under arrest at 1:30 a.m. — about an hour after the accident — and continued to be uncooperative, police said, yelling that he wanted to speak to his attorney and refusing an alcohol breath test.

At his arraignment later that morning, Sobeck set Gadsby’s bail at $10,000 unsecured. The date of his preliminary hearing before District Judge Albert Augustine of Skippack — initially set for Jan. 8, but continued for unspecified reasons, district court personnel said Thursday — is pending.

Police said that due to the severity of the crash and the damage done to the utility pole, the 500 block of Harleysville Pike was closed for several hours as PECO workers made repairs.